Smart Home Ideas

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Smart Homes

smart home article
Time Magazine – The Smarter Home – July 2014

For over 100 years, the housing industry has basically been building  the same style of home. Conventional, sprawling “stick” home construction is no longer the smart choice. Now is the time to investigate why Smart Home technology now makes more sense than ever!

“Old Style” construction is expensive to build and provides limited safety from the elements and intruders. In many cases, modern homes are also much larger than is needed or wanted, particularly for singles or couples and especially retirees.

Recently, Time magazine featured a 39 page special report titled “The Smarter Home” which described the newest trend in housing; easier to maintain, affordable and technologically intelligent to the user’s needs.

The article states “The dwellings of the future will make you calmer, safer, richer and healthier…and they already exist“.

 Size wise:

not so smart home
Smaller homes are smart homes and much more practical than an over-sized Mc Mansion.

Smaller modular homes are more economically feasible and involve a considerably smaller carbon footprint than the huge Mc Mansions of the 80’s and 90’s.  Rising fuel and electricity prices have homeowners now considering the premise that bigger is not always better and green building is much healthier for the planet.  It’s a very smart choice, especially for a second home, perhaps a winter escape in Arizona maybe, so saving money will certainly make you calmer and richer in the end.

The MODS Modular housing approach is also more affordable than conventional construction and cost much less to operate. Being smaller obviously requires less power and if you want to live off the grid on solar or wind power, modular housing with it’s meager power requirements is the perfect solution.

Safer – Bullet Proof?

Smart home resist storms and speeding bullets
Modular housing resists storms and even a speeding bullet!

As far as being safer, MODS has you covered there too. While the interior is made with earth friendly insulation and renewable wood resources, the exterior is made of 14 gauge, (0.075 inch) steel. Typical aluminum siding runs  between  .019” to .024” thick. Republic Doors and frames makes their bullet proof doors with 14 ga. steel, so the MODS sidewalls can provide some level of bullet protection.

A properly grounded MODS unit can also act as a basic Faraday Cage, reducing the effects of EMI, RFI and EMP exposure. For increase protection, you can have your MODS semi buried for an earth shelter style design. MODS can also be installed as a storm shelter against moderate to high winds.

Optional Smarts:

smart home net zero energy
GE Net Zero Energy Home Design.

Besides the obvious smart, economic advantages of modular housing, you can also add home automation from a growing constellation of new smart home devices and appliances. This might include remote video surveillance, security systems, media servers, automated heating and cooling and smart appliances.

MODS International can custom design and manufacture the smart home of your dreams. Contact us to learn more and get a free price quote on your smart home project.

 

 

 

Retail and Office space using shipping containers

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Modular Retail and Office Space:

For a very unique and cost effective way to build your next retail and office space let MODS® International design your space using shipping containers.  The cost per square foot is considerably less than conventional construction.  Plus, the added bonus is SPEED.  We build the facility in our manufacturing plant and ship to your location and “fit” it together into a very modern and exciting new store or office.

Modular Store Exterior As Built
Modular Store Exterior As Built

We create building blocks and erect them in a fraction of the time it takes to build a conventional building on your property.  We can ALSO add more pieces to the MODS if you want to expand in the future.  We’ll design your project to grow with your business.  When you need more space, call us.

For more information on Growing your Retail or Office space call us. We’ll help you grow while saving your considerable expenses.

MODS Two Story Shipping Container Home

Container Home Designs

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two story tiny home
Two Story Tiny Home

Let MODS International design and build your next home using shipping containers.  Our staff of designers and architects will create a very unique and functional design for you new home whether it’s for a lake front cottage, primary residence or a hunting retreat.

Made using durable sea containers for the structural core, MODS can outfit the exterior with more neighbor friendly roofing and siding materials. Multistory layouts can feature relaxing sun deck and observation areas.

MODS are amazingly spacious and when several containers are combined, the opportunity of 16 foot wide rooms and complete open concepts like this five container modular store front become a possibility.

Our clients enjoy using containers for a home because of the speed, cost savings and the extreme strength of the structure.  They are destruction proof.  MODS International will take your dreams and create reality. Contact us today and let MODS International design and build your specialized container home.

Samples of multi-container projects. Large open spaces are possible.

 

Emergency Shelters

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MODS Emergency Shelters:

MODS designs and builds EMERGENCY Shelters to be used underground or above ground.  Our shelters are used for tornado, hurricane or other  natural disasters.  We also build shelters for “preppers” looking for underground protection against all forms of disaster.  This includes stand-by power, sleeping quarters, intruder proof entrances and long term living conditions.

mods-storm-shelter
Modular storm shelters

If you need temporary protection from destructive storms such as tornado and hurricanes, we can provide for your exact needs.  For longer term survival we will design the underground structure for the protection of your family or business.  We travel throughout the world building structures.

Contact Douglas Larson for immediate information.  [email protected]

 

Tornado Slams Oil Worker Camp

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WATFORD CITY, N.D. (AP) — A tornado struck a workers camp in North Dakota’s oil patch on Monday, injuring nine people — one critically — and destroying at least eight trailers where workers had been living, an emergency management official said.

tornado
North Dakota Twister Tears Through Oil Worker Camp

The twister touched down at around 7:50 p.m. at a camp about 5 miles south of Watford City, which is in the west of the state and about 30 miles southeast of Williston, the city at the heart of the state’s oil boom.

McKenzie County Emergency Management Director Jerry Samuelson said crews sifted through a large amount of debris at the camp, but that he was confident that nobody was missing. He said there were a lot more trailers at the camp just a few days ago, so the situation could have been a lot worse had it happened earlier.

“Obviously, we’re very fortunate there are no deaths, to our knowledge.”

He said the injured were in their trailers when the tornado struck. Karen Holte, a volunteer at an American Red Cross shelter set up at Watford City’s civic center, said the tornado descended on the camp so quickly that nobody had time to take shelter.

(watch the video below to see the drama unfold)

The critically injured person was taken to Trinity Health hospital in Minot for treatment, Samuelson said. The others who were hurt were treated at McKenzie County Memorial Hospital in Watford City.

One of the injured workers, Tony Beyda, was among nine people who were spending the night at the shelter. He suffered a head wound and cuts on his arm.

“I saw it come at me,” Beyda told The Associated Press, referring to whatever it was that hit him. He pulled back the bandage on his forehead to show the stapled wound.

“It peeled it back pretty good,” he said, referring to the skin on his head.

Beyda thought his cat was killed when his home was destroyed, but was surprised to learn from Watford City’s fire chief, Oscar Knudtson, that the cat and someone else’s dog were found alive.

William Bunkel, who works for a trucking company, said he was in Watford City with some co-workers when the tornado warning came. They had just moved their vehicles inside because of large hail when they spotted the funnel cloud.

“We saw it form, come out of the sky, hit the ground and go back up into the clouds,” he said.

Bunkel, 38, took photos of the twister and estimated that it remained on the ground for nearly a minute. He said he couldn’t see any debris.

“It was a little bit too far away. We just saw the clouds and the rotation,” he said.

Besides large hail and the tornado, the storm also produced heavy rain and high winds, said Adam Jones, meteorologist with the National Weather Service. The agency will survey the site Tuesday to follow-up on reports of three funnel clouds on the ground, he said.

“We heard there were three touchdowns. But we haven’t heard if that’s three separate tornadoes or the same tornado touching down three different times,” Jones said.

The oil boom has fueled a population boom for the area, bringing in tens of thousands of people looking for work. Many live in hastily-assembled trailer parks or man camps, which contain pre-fabricated structures that can resemble military barracks. Some companies rent blocks of hotel rooms for employees to live in, and some workers sleep in their cars or even tents.

Housing developments are constantly popping up in big areas of town that didn’t exist on maps a couple of years ago. But they are still not enough to keep pace with demand and oil money has pushed rents to among the highest in the nation: A simple one bedroom apartment in Williston can easily cost $2,000 per month in rent. Even a spot to park a trailer can cost over $800 per month.

Associated Press writer Carson Walker in Sioux Falls, S.D., contributed to this report.

Additional Video – as posted on YouTube

httpv://youtu.be/TNXd4JP3ZWU

The video demonstrates the need for a secure shelter for workers in tornado prone areas.